BYU To Host Washington State in NIT Quarterfinals

After beating Northern Iowa in the second round of the NIT Saturday evening, BYU found out Sunday afternoon that they will get one more home game this season.

Four seed Washington State beat one seed SMU 75-63 in Dallas, meaning BYU will host the Cougars in Crimson Wednesday night in the Marriott Center. The game will be at 7:00 MT on ESPN2.

Washington State is 21-14 on the season and coming off double-digit wins over SMU and Santa Clara. KenPom currently gives BYU a 62% chance to win and predicts a 73-69 score in favor of BYU.

Wazzu jumped out to a 39-20 halftime lead over SMU behind 13 offensive boards. The Cougars have a long, athletic front line and start a 6-11 Center and 6-10 forward. SMU’s tallest starter is 6-5 and was overwhelmed by Wazzu’s size.

BYU will need guys like Caleb Lohner, Fousseyni Traore, and Gideon George to be strong on the boards. Washington State doesn’t shoot a great percentage from the field, but they are one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country and manufacture a lot of second chance points.

BYU’s offense is coming off two games of scoring 90+ points and getting great play from Caleb Lohner and Gideon George. If those guys continue to play well I think BYU will come out on top at home.